Single Parents
by ThrowawayName
Summary: AU about Garfield and Rachel as single parents to their respective daughters. Now in a new relationship as they head towards the second marriage of their lives.
1. Talking about the Future

It was pretty clear to them both that they were heading toward tying the knot. They had met at the beginning of their respective daughters' school year in the fifth grade, and after the initial awkwardness that the kids couldn't help but laugh at them for, they had begun to start seriously dating. Both, Garfield and Rachel, hadn't gone on a single date since their previous marriages had ended, but now the pain those endings had caused them felt like a distant memory as they found new love with each other.

For now, in the midst of their romance, they were discussing a serious matter: How a marriage between them would affect their kids. They had been lucky that their daughters were getting along so well, but did they want to be sisters? Did Marie want a new mother? Did Angela want a new father? They seemed to appreciate their new relationship, but looks could be deceiving.

"So, Rachel, do you think Angela likes me enough to want to call me dad?" He asked nervously.

Rachel furrowed her brow in concentration. If Angela had inherited anything from her and her recently deceased husband, it was that she was a very quiet young girl. Happy to fade away from the spotlight and only speaking when necessary.

"It's hard to say. I think she does like you, but I don't know if she'd just see it as me trying to tell her to forget about Joey."

"Why would she think that?"

"She's eleven and isn't quite over the whole one true love thing yet."

"But you are?"

She gave him a look, "Of course, Gar, I may still love Joey and wish he didn't die, but now I love you as well." She smiled at him. He smiled back at her. "And don't ask me to rank you two."

"I wasn't," he put his hands up in mock offense, and then got serious, "I just hope Angela feels the same way about me."

"I'm sure she does Gar, besides, I clearly have a lot more to worry about with Marie." She looked down.

Garfield, for his part, reached his arm around her to comfort her. "Come, now, Rachel, Marie will come around just like Angela will, what makes you say otherwise?"

"She called me a witch when we first met." She deadpanned.

Garfield gave a nervous laugh at that, "I know she regrets calling you that. I made sure of that."

"It's just," she paused, "she calls your ex-wife a witch all the time, and from what you've told me, she lived up to that. Am I really that awful?"

Garfield only tightened his hold on her. "Rachel, Antoni may have not been the best spouse, and you do have a lot in common with her."

"But?"

"But you never actually meant any of those snarky remarks about me. I can tell you're just teasing. With Antoni, though, she meant every word of what she said." His voice was about to break as he tried to keep his eyes from watering at the memories.

Rachel looked on in worry. "I'm sorry, Gar, I shouldn't have dug up those painful memories for you over something stupid." She whispered into his ear.

He merely looked at her and smiled, "No, it's fine, I don't think they'll ever be pleasant to think about, but now I can just look at you and know that everything is better now."

"Really?"

"Of course, and I'm sure Marie feels the same way." He continued to reassure her.

She nodded with a small smile on her face.

"You know," Garfield began,"We are only in our early thirties."

"Yes, we are," Rachel nodded, pretty confident where he was going with this. "What about it?"

"Well, we could give our daughters another sister?" He smiled suggestively at her.

So she had guessed right. "Let's wait until we're actually married first before taking that step."

He made a mock sigh of exasperation, "Hey, I can't help it that I'm dating such a MILF."

She shot him her best annoyed look she could muster.

"Um, sorry?" He offered.

She actually giggled at that, surprising Garfield completely. "Just feel lucky that I'm dating such a DILF, and we'll call it even." She said, now returning his suggestive smile from earlier. Rachel cuddled up close to her probably soon-to-be fiance, and began an intimate and passionate kiss with him.

* * *

"Ewwwwwwwwwwwww!"

"What?"

"Our parents are making out again." Said Marie as she put the binoculars she was using to spy on them from the treehouse in the backyard away.

"Why do you keep spying on them if you're just going to get grossed out?" Angela asked.

"I wouldn't if you weren't meditating so much and would play ponies with me."

Angela blushed, "I forgot mine in the house."

"Hehe, never would have thought that Angela, the tough girl at school who hates anything 'girly' would have such a soft spot for ponies." Marie teased.

Angela's face could have given her grandfather nightmares. "If you tell anyone at school I will not hesitate to tell Uncle Vic about that little crush you have on his son."

Marie could do nothing but laugh in response. "You know I'd never do that to my best friend, maybe soon to be sister." She replied in a sing-song voice.

A silence fell over them as they realized, not for the first time, that this wasn't something that would remain just a joke for much longer.

Angela broke the silence, "So, are you ok with it?"

"Ok with what?"

"You know? Being sisters? Having my mom be your mom?"

"Oh." Marie pondered it for just a moment. "I've always wanted a sister," she took note of the slight blush on Angela's face, "And I always wondered what it would be like to have a mom that actually wanted to be around me."

Angela's eyes widened in realization, "Oh," she rubbed her forehead with her fingers, "I never thought about it like that before."

"So how about you? Want a sister and a new dad?"

Removing her fingers from her forehead, Angela looked up at Marie. "Well, I gave it some thought, and I think you would make a good sister." She ignored Marie's squeal of delight as she continued, "As for having a new dad? I don't know, Mr. Logan is nice to me, and I can tell that he loves Mom just as much as Dad did, but..."

"But?"

"It just feels weird to think of him as being 'Dad'." She saw that Marie was still looking at her, expecting there to be more. "But, I also see how much he makes Mom happy, and maybe I'll get used to it? I don't hate him or anything."

"Awww," Marie let out, and pulled Angela into a friendly hug. "You don't hate my Dad!"

"Yes, yes, I know, now let go of me." She said as she pushed Marie away. "But you know, what if they have another kid?"

That was something Marie had never considered before. What if they did have another kid? She took a stereotypical thinking position, resting a finger on her chin. A light bulb seemed to turn on as she reached her conclusion.

"Always wanted a brother too!"

Angela smiled at that, "So do I."


	2. Marie and Rachel

Rachel was far from a perfect mother. Being somewhat distant and emotionally closed off made her a mother that, while full of good advice and rational about what she expects from her daughter, was not the one Angela would go to when she needed emotional advice. That was Joey's expertise. While Rachel had improved from her teenage years of just making sarcastic quips in front of people, she was still far from being the most understanding when it came to others' emotions and people that wildly differed from her.

On the surface, people would say that she and Garfield were wildly different. But, as she came to know him over the course of the past year, she came to realize just how much they had in common. A tendency towards humor when stressed out, raised by strict parents, an emotionally distant father/mother. Being single parents that had recently had a marriage end, and full of love for their daughters. She could understand Garfield fairly well, despite the obvious differences.

On the other hand, there was his daughter, Marie. Marie seemed to be what she imagined Garfield when he was younger. A lot more outwardly happy, constantly acting like an awkward dork, and striving to please others. She knew her own daughter had become rather close friends with her, probably because of their shared interest in ponies if she had to guess.

But for Rachel, she just couldn't find anything in common with the young girl. Marie was very, well, "girly" and Rachel has held interests in more darker hobbies for as long as she could remember. Marie liked fluffy romance, she was into terrifying horror. Marie played with dolls and held an interest in fashion, Rachel was content with a book and plain clothes. There seemed to be nothing but differences between the two of them, and that worried Rachel so much if she were to ever be accepted as the girl's new mother. How could she, if she couldn't relate to her about anything?

And so, it had been Rachel's idea that she spend the day with Marie, reasoning with Garfield that Marie probably needs a bit of bonding time with a positive female role-model. He was to take Angela out for the day to spend some time with her as well.

And that was how Rachel had found herself in her current situation. Listening to the young girl ramble on about ponies, cartoons, her latest crush on a boy, and an endless list of never ending topics. While she did admit to herself that there was an understandable appeal in those ponies, none of these other topics were particularly her area of expertise. She simply smiled softly at the young girl as she continued her rants and nodded to keep her going.

"Hey, Mrs. Wilson?"

"Yes, Marie?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

She couldn't help her usual snarky response, "I believe you just did." She said.

"Oh."

"I'm kidding, go ahead and ask what's on your mind?"

"I was just wondering, can I maybe call you mom?"

That hadn't been what she had been expecting from the young girl. She had been expecting 'Are you paying attention?' or 'Why are you even trying?' but this was a pretty sudden thing to be asked.

"Why do you want to?" She asked.

Marie seemed to fidget awkwardly, as if embarrassed about this whole ordeal, "It's just that you love my Dad so much..." Ah, she figured Garfield probably asked her to start thinking of her as mom. "...and you've already done so much more than my actual Mom..." Ok, that was yet another thing she didn't expect to hear.

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"I mean you're actually here, spending time with me, listening to me talk about things I know most grown-ups don't care about! My actual Mom just wanted me to leave her alone when she didn't want something from me." Her voice had lowered to a very quiet tone. "Or when she wanted to use me against Dad."

Everything seemed to fall in place. There was something that she could relate to with Marie on.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that Marie." She began, "I kind of know what it's like, growing up with a mother that seems to resent you."

"You do?"

"Kind of, though I now understand why my mother was the way she was, it still doesn't take back all the years I spent thinking my own mother resented my existence."

"I don't think my Mom cares about me at all."

"Time will tell for sure, perhaps she does, and perhaps she doesn't. But, you know what you'll have that I didn't?"

"What?" Marie asked her. Rachel could see the excitement on her face and guessed that she knew what was coming.

"You will have a mother that will want to be with you. I'll be your mom, and anytime you need to talk to me about your birthmother, I'll be here for you." She said as she gave a bright smile. One that only Joey, Garfield, and Angela had brought out of her before. "Now, why don't you tell me more about these ponies? I think it would be cute if this introverted book-loving pony loved this extroverted party planner."

Marie grinned happily, "I knew Angela got her love of ponies from you!"


	3. Angela and Garfield

The zoo. Mr. Logan had taken her to the zoo. The zoo that she was currently at with her Mom's boyfriend. The one who she could only see as replacing her deceased father. That's who she was with and where she was at.

The zoo was a nice enough place. She was grateful that Mr. Logan was trying to spend time with her, and was even taking her to a place that she had never even been before. But, this was still really awkward being with her Mom's boyfriend on her own like this. If only Mom or Marie were here right now, it probably wouldn't be so bad.

Angela smiled as she thought about Marie. Her best friend since fifth grade had began earlier this year, and she was likely going to become her sister before seventh grade at the latest. The other kids didn't seem to understand why Angela, the girl who seemed to want to be left alone while she read, enjoyed the company of Marie, the biggest social butterfly in the entire school. It was simple really; she was just so easy to talk to about anything, and Marie was more than willing to keep her secret soft spot for ponies safe.

But then there was her father. Mr. Logan. She definitely didn't hate the man. In fact, she found that he was easily the best guy that her mother had ever taken an interest in since her father had passed away. But there was still that part of her that felt unease at thinking of the man as her new dad. Joseph Wilson had been a quiet, compassionate man. Garfield Logan was loud and silly. Maybe her Mom enjoyed the silliness after feeling so miserable about her husband's untimely death for so long? Angela felt she might never know.

They continued walking throughout the zoo, Garfield pointing out the various animals to Angela and commenting on all the interesting trivia he learned about them while learning to be a vet. It was at least holding her interest, and his jokes weren't any worse than Marie's could be, so there was little to complain about.

Then they came upon the gorilla exhibit.

They were having sex in said exhibit.

Garfield stuttered nervously, "Oh, um, y-you see they're just, how do I explain this?"

"They're having sex." Angela bluntly stated.

Garfield turned to her in surprise.

"We started sex ed a couple of weeks ago." She smirked.

"Right, now I remember signing Marie's permission slip." He said sheepishly.

If things were awkward before, nothing could compare to them standing there, watching gorillas mate.

"Do you and Mom do this?" She suddenly said.

"Wha-"

"Do you?"

"Where's this coming from all of a sudden?"

"I want to know, do you?"

"I, well, yes, but why are you so insistent on knowing?"

"I have some questions."

Garfield stared at her in shock. He thought to himself, _Oh no, am I going to have to give the talk to my girlfriend's daughter?_

"Wait right here." He said, and took off.

* * *

Garfield pulled out his phone and immediately began texting Rachel.

 _Your daughter just asked me if we're having sex._

 _What? How did that come up?_

 _The gorillas were doing it._

 _I'm not even going to ask. What did you tell her?_

 _Well, I said yes, but only because she kept on insisting on it._

 _Why does she want to know so bad._

 _She has questions._

There was a long delay until he finally received Rachel's response.

 _She's old enough and I trust you. Answer them as best as you can._

 _Here's hoping she doesn't ask me about that time of the month._

 _Tell her to ask me about that one._

 _Ok, Love you._

 _Love you too._

Well, now he definitely was giving his girlfriend's daughter the talk.

* * *

Garfield returned to Angela, finding that she was still watching the gorillas do their business. He cleared his throat.

"Come with me, and don't worry, you're not in any trouble." He told her.

Angela nodded and began to follow him. He led them outside of the zoo, stopping to get their hands stamped to come back in. They went out to the car, stepped in, turned it on to let the air conditioner flow, and Garfield turned to her with a smile.

"Ok, what would you like to know?" He asked simply.

"What's the point?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why do people have sex?"

"Uh, well, it depends. Sometimes it's just for fun, to feel good, make your partner feel good. As a way to express your love for somebody, and sometimes to have a child together."

"And you and mom are trying to have one?" She asked.

"No, we're now. Just the first few for now."

"For now?"

"Maybe after we get married."

"So that is happening?"

"Not officially."

"I see." She sighed.

"What is it?"

"Nothing," she lied, "It's just, how is it an expression of love?"

"Well, you, see, that is a bit difficult to explain. It's kind of like, I really love your mom, right, and I want her to feel good. So, I just want to make her happy and that's one part of it."

"Huh." She said.

"Besides, you know that the act itself isn't the only part that's important right? It's probably the least important actually."

"It is?"

"Uh huh, before there's usually our date where we enjoy each others company, have fun, get in a romantic mood and enjoy the moment. After we're done with our thing we can just lie there together, holding each other, talking softly, and falling asleep together." He blushed, "Uh sorry, you probably don't want to know the details about this."

"It's fine, you actually answered another question I had."

"And that would be?"

"It's a secret for now."

"Huh." He simply said. "Well, alright then."

Angela would probably not tell him for a while, but she did just figure out why her mom loved this man so much. He is every bit as compassionate as her father had been, and he clearly loved her mom. Maybe she could come around to thinking of him as her dad after all.

"Was there anything else you wanted to know?"

"Well, I was curious what this 'period' thing the other girls at school were talking about."

"Oh," He paled, "Your mom will answer that."


End file.
